Press release, 09.02.2016

The Moscow branch of the YABLOKO party made a statement to express their categorical protest in connection with the mass demolition of the kiosks and small shopping centers which had taken place by order of the Moscow Mayor’s Office (City Hall) last night. According to the city government, the buildings had no formal planning permission. However, the owners claim that court confirmed the legal status of the constructions. YABLOKO states that that authorities destroy small business instead of supporting it. YABLOKO demands that the legality of the mass demolition of kiosks and pavilions must be reviewed and that the officials responsible for another pogrom of small business must be dismissed.

Photo: Valery Sharifulin/TASS

“The pavilions which had been providing the Muscovites with the necessary goods and services at acceptable prices at convenient places were demolished. A large number of the kiosks had the lawful rights to take their place and possessed the corresponding court decisions. This did not prevent the officials of the Mayor’s Office from committing a true pogrom with the use of police and heavy equipment , without drawing on the court decisions. As a result of this barbaric action the prices for goods and services will rise due to the reduction of competition, in the first place. In the second place, hundred thousand people, who were engaged in small business, will lose their job and means of subsistence,” the statement says.